1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method and apparatus for providing road traffic information and using the provided information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, with the advancement of digital signal processing and communications technology, radio and TV broadcast signals are provided gradually in the form of digital data. As signals are provided in a digital form, a variety of information such as news, stock, weather, and traffic information are now supplementing the TV or radio broadcasting signals.
In particular, necessity for traffic information is constantly increasing with the increment of the number of vehicles in downtown areas, the number of vehicles during holidays, and so on. Accordingly, methods for providing traffic information as auxiliary information via satellite, terrestrial broadcast, or mobile communications network are under development.
Provision of traffic information as above is realized by the unit of a road segment. A road segment is also called as a ‘link’ which is a unit road segment containing no branch inside. That is to say, traffic information such as average link speed is provided for each individual road link. Multiple lanes may exist in a single road link and each lane can exhibit traffic status different from each other. Therefore, while traveling to a destination, if a driver moves along a particular lane on a particular road link and the chosen lane exhibits heavy congestion, the driver may not be able to arrive at the destination in time.